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13/04/15 2:37 PM

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals
Volume: 18

Issue: 36

14 September 2015

Middle East and Africa growing volumes

T

he Middle East and Africa
were the glowing regions
of the industry in July, as
all other regions saw falls
in demand, according to
the International Air Transport
Association (IATA).
Airfreight volumes fell yearon-year (YOY) across the globe
in the month compared to July in
2014, the association reports. Volumes measured in freight tonne
kilometres (FTK) declined YOY by
0.6 per cent, which IATA says is in
line with weaker global economic
growth.
IATA says the most pronounced
falls were in the Americas, where
international FTK volumes were
down YOY by more than 5 per cent
compared to same month last year.
“The recent stock market turmoil shows that investors have
real fears about the strength of the
global economy. And the disappointing July freight performance
is symptomatic of a broader
slowdown in economic growth,”
says IATA’s director general and
chief executive officer, Tony Tyler
(pictured).

2015 IS A SUCCESS
SO FAR FOR
CARGOMIND
GEODIS SEEING
PRESSURE ON
YIELDS
move forward and
take action is the
message IN ASIA

Tyler adds: “The combination
of China’s continued shift towards
domestic markets, wider weakness in emerging markets, and
slowing global trade indicates
that it will continue to be a rough
ride for air cargo in the months to
come.”
Demand only grew in the Africa
and Middle East regions, which
saw surges in FTKs of 3.6 per cent
and 10.8 per cent respectively.
Africa’s capacity rose by 11.4
per cent, and growth has come
despite underperformance of the
sizeable Nigerian and South African economies.
The Middle East saw capacity
expand a substantial 18.3 per cent,

and the strong monthly figures
were also slightly subdued due to
the timing of Ramadan, which took
place in June this year, as opposed
to July in 2014.
Asia Pacific continues to see
a slowdown and IATA says the
region has experienced a notable
decline in imports and exports
with Chinese manufacturing particularly struggling. FTKs fell YOY
by 1.9 per cent in July, but capacity
rose by 5.3 per cent.
Three regions suffered in July,
notably Latin America where carriers saw a YOY fall in FTKs of 5.1
per cent. Capacity expanded by 3.2
per cent. European airlines saw a
YOY fall in FTKs in July of 1.5 per

cent compared to a year ago and
capacity rose 3.9 per cent. Central and Eastern Europe have seen
trade fall 10 per cent since the end
of the first quarter.
In North America, FTKs fell 3.7
per cent and capacity grew by 5.4
per cent.

Next stage reached in cargo airship development
Development of the world’s first vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capable heavy-lift cargo
airship has reached the next stage.
The Aeroscraft Corporation (Aeros)
progamme has completed the engineering scale
down prototype “Dragon Dream” phase, and is
ready to enter the design freeze phase for the
ML866 (66-ton) Aeroscraft cargo airship.
Aeros is currently developing main component and test articles for the patented buoyancy
management system known as COSH, or control-of-static-heaviness, as well as structural
components for the operational Aeroscraft.
The heavy-lift, variable-buoyancy cargo
airship features an onboard buoyancy management system, rigid structure, vertical
take-off and landing performance, and opera-

tional abilities at low speed, in hover, and from
unprepared surfaces.
Aeros’ COSH technology allows airships to
address global logistics applications for the first
time, the company says. This new capability
will reduce the time and cost involved in deliv-

ering large container cargo around the world,
especially to areas lacking in infrastructure.
The company says the aircraft “is unique in
terms of its capability, size, cargo handling and
propulsion, featuring infrastructure independence with VTOL capability at max payload”.
Aeros is planning to complete the configuration design freeze for the Aeroscraft by the end
of 2015, as part of fleet development efforts
now underway to satisfy global demand for the
vehicle’s new logistics capabilities, it explains.
Aeros chief executive officer, Igor Pasternak, says: “We are excited to reveal production
is underway on the 555-ft long ML866, and
committed to achieving FAA operational certification for the first deployable Aeroscraft in
approximately five years.”

cargo
infrastructure
drive in sweden

6

7

8

10

Nippon scraps
freighter order
BOEING says Nippon Cargo Airlines has
scrapped orders for four Boeing 747
Freighters valued at around $1.5 billion.
Nippon Cargo still has two of the aircraft on order after taking delivery of
eight 747-8 freighters since July 2012,
according to Boeing’s website.
The cancellation comes as the air
cargo market struggles to gain momentum amid China’s economic turmoil and
a fall in yields.
Through the end of August, Boeing had
just 29 unfilled orders for the 747-8. The
freighter version is the company’s second most expensive aircraft, with a list
price of $379.1 million.
According to Boeing’s 2015 Current
Market Outlook, 14,330 new aircraft,
worth $2.2 trillion will be needed in the
Asia Pacific region by 2034.
In Europe. UK carrier Jet2.com has
ordered 27 Boeing 737-800s, valued at
around $2.6 billion at current list prices.
Jet2.com operates an all-Boeing fleet of
nearly 60 aircraft.
The aircraft will be used to take package holiday and flight only customers to
leisure destinations in the Mediterranean, and European cities.

NEWSWEEK

Aeroflot deal to acquire Transaero approved

A

eroflot Group’s board of directors has approved the purchase
and restructuring of struggling
Russian airline Transaero.
The directors met on 3 September
where they discussed Transaero’s financial
position (the airline’s debts have reached
an estimated $1 billion) and the results of
an earlier interagency meeting with the
government’s first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov, who had approved the
acquisition.
Having decided ‘that it was necessary to
involve Aeroflot Group in the restructuring of Transaero’, the directors instructed
Aeroflot management to develop proposals around a number of urgent measures.
These include the transfer of operational
management of Transaero to Aeroflot, and
ensuring corporate control over the bailout procedure.
A tender offer from shareholders of

Transaero was considered. This consists of
an offer to sell at least 75 per cent plus one
share of Transaero within 24 days from the
date of the offer at a price of no more than
one rouble for the tendered shares.
The board of directors approved a
motion to create a working group consisting of members of the committees of the
board of directors and the company’s man-

agement, to hold negotiations regarding
substantial restructuring of Transaero’s
debt.
“In the whole time I have served as
chairman of the board of Aeroflot this is
undoubtedly the most important and significant decision that we have taken, and
one that will be of transformational significance for Aeroflot,” Aeroflot’s chairman of
the board, Kirill Androsov says.
The Aeroflot Group is 51 per cent owned
by the Russian government and is the
country’s largest carrier. Transaero is Russia’s second largest airline.

Tonnage fall again for Finnair Cargo

FINNAIR CARGO has seen another double-digit fall in cargo
volumes in August, dropping by 10.3 per cent year-on-year
(YOY) to 11,398 tonnes, because of weak European traffic.
August saw the second lowest YOY fall of 2015 after February, when cargo volumes dropped by 6.8 per cent to 9,785
tonnes. Cargo volumes fell by 17.1 per cent YOY to 9,346
tonnes in January, before the smaller decline in February and
then it dropped by 16 per cent in March 11,299 tonnes.
April saw a 19.2 per cent YOY fall to 10,233 tonnes before
a 20.3 per cent drop in May to 10,301 tonnes. In June, cargo
volumes fell by 15 per cent to 10,940 tonnes and then 16.2
per cent to 11,150 tonnes in July. Between January and August cargo volumes fell by 15.3 per cent to 84,453 tonnes.
Year-to-date (YTD) European tonnage is down 13.6 per cent
to 13,623 tonnes. YTD North Atlantic tonnage is up 2.1 per
cent to 5,221 tonnes and Asia is up 0.2 per cent to 53,924.

Air Canada launches eAWB campaign
AIR CANADA CARGO has launched a new campaign promoting the benefits of the electronic air waybill (eAWB) and
urging customers to adopt it.
The Go Digital initiative will run until the end of the year.
Messages will be sent promoting the benefits of moving
away from paper air waybills, and outlining strategies for
freight forwarders and shippers to get on board.
“Our industry generates a large amount of paper, and we
welcome any effort to reduce this practice, which is wasteful
as well as inefficient”, says Air Canada Cargo vice president,
Lise-Marie Turpin.
“As an air carrier, speed is what we’re all about. Any move
towards digitisation is an advantage for us – technology
speeds up service at our counters and reduces errors, which
in the end helps us provide better service to our customers.
It’s a win-win”, she adds.
Tools have also been developed that will make it easy for
customers to switch to eAWB, the airline explains. These
include e-Booking, which allows Air Canada Cargo account
holders to book and manage shipments online and submit
eAWBs. In addition, cargo portal service (CPS) users can
book both specialised and general cargo shipments with Air
Canada Cargo, submitting an eAWB via CPS.
“Developing these functionalities has been a priority for us
this year,” says Turpin. “We’ve also made it a priority to turn
up eAWB across our network.”

2

ACW 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

Global airport cargo volumes rise a fraction in July

F

reight volumes stagnated in July butvolumes still grew by 0.2 per cent
worldwide, as large increases in Africa
were not able to make up for slowdowns in countries including China,
according to Airports Council International
(ACI).
In Africa, freight increased by 15.8 per cent
year-on-year (YOY) in July, but the Middle East
fell by 0.9 per cent in the same month. Asia
Pacific saw no growth while Latin America-Caribbean and North America both saw increases
of 0.1 per cent and Europe was up 0.3 per cent.
ACI says China and oil producing nations have
suffered slowdowns, which has affected hubs
across Asia.
ACI says: “The strong correlation between
changes in airfreight volumes and the business
cycle coupled with the fact that a high concentration of the world’s major airfreight hubs are
located in the Asia Pacific region has inevitably

resulted in a slowdown.”
Hong Kong International Airport is one
of the airports suffering from a weak July. It
saw cargo volumes fall by 1.9 per cent YOY to
363,000 tonnes in July, which the airport says is
because of falling transshipments, exports and
cargo throughput to and from China, Taiwan
and Europe underperforming.
ACI says North America has been mixed, with

Memphis International Airport, a FedEx hub
and Louisville International Airport, a UPS
base, have seen growth, while Anchorage Ted
Stevens International Airport and Miami
International Airport (pictured) have both
declined. In July, Memphis saw a YOY increase
of 2.5 per cent to 364,224 tonnes. ACI says Louisville saw a YOY increase of 4.2 per cent but the
airport did not have any tonnage figures available. Miami saw freight fall by 2.3 per cent in
July to 169,553 tonnes. ACI says Anchorage saw
freight fall by 5.6 per cent but the airport did
not have any tonnage figures available.
The year-to-date (YTD) results are more
positive. Worldwide freight was up 2.9 per cent.
Africa saw the largest increase, of 11.5 per cent,
followed by the Middle East, at 7.2 per cent.
North America was up by 4.3 per cent while
Asia Pacific saw an increase of 2.4 per cent.
Latin America-Caribbean was up 0.8 per cent
while in Europe it rose by 0.5 per cent.

NEWS WEEK
WorldNews
JET AIRWAYS is now accepting e-bookings via the Worldwide Information
Network (WIN) e-platform. The carrier’s
acting vice president, James Gilliard,
says Jet Airways has been connected
with WIN since spring 2015 for electronic air waybills and has seen steady
growth in electronic transactions with
small-medium enterprise forwarders on
the platform.
FREIGHT forwarder Blue Bird Logistics
has launched ‘e2ecargo.com’, India’s
first e-platform for the exporting community. The platform allows exporters to
book general cargo air export shipments
to 40 global destinations. Blue Bird says
the booking process, normally taking
between four and six hours, can now be
completed in less than five minutes.

Growth continues at Brussels
BRUSSELS AIRPORT has seen cargo volumes increase
by 8.2 per cent year-on-year in August to 37,387 tonnes
because of a big rise in freighter traffic despite a fall in
bellyhold.
Total cargo traffic rose by 14.9 per cent in August to
26,036 tonnes, with freighter volumes increasing by 34.9
per cent to 11,138 tonnes. Integrator tonnage increased by
3.4 per cent to 14,898 tonnes while bellyhold cargo fell by
4.4 per cent to 11,351 tonnes. The airport says it has been
helped by Ethiopian Airlines starting four times a week
freighter services to Brussels from Addis Ababa in January.
Brussels Airport says: “Cargo transport at Brussels Airport displayed healthy growth of 8.2 per cent in August. The
transport of cargo on board passenger planes fell slightly
by 4.4 per cent. Cargo transport in passenger planes is extremely sensitive to economic fluctuations.”
Between January and August, cargo volumes rose 10.6
per cent to 325,868 tonnes, with freighter tonnage increasing by 14.6 per cent to 229,859 tonnes. Freighter aircraft
tonnage increased by 25.5 per cent to 98,234 tonnes and
integrator volumes were up 7.6 per cent to 131,535 tonnes.
Bellyhold cargo was up two per cent to 96,009 tonnes.
Cargo flights were up by 12 per cent from January to August to 8,515. In August they were up by 13.3 per cent.

Volga-Dnepr delivers Cyprus trees

CYPRUS trees grown in Germany and destined to improve
the landscape of Uzbekistan’s capital city Tashkent have
been transported by Volga-Dnepr Airlines.
The 28 trees, each 7.5 metres tall, were transported to
Brno in the Czech Republic onboard one of Volga-Dnepr’s
IL-76TD-90VD freighters for Russian logistics company
Haltec-Avia.
Volga-Dnepr sales executive, Vyacheslav Shakhov, says:
“Our main priority was to transport the trees in the shortest
possible timescale. They were packed in protective boxes
that were too tall to be loaded using the aircraft’s onboard
crane system so we brought in our own special loading
equipment which enabled us to load them using the aircraft’s ramp and rail system and a forklift truck.”
The trees are being planted as part of a reconstruction
project in Tashkent for the city’s preparations to host the
2016 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

ACW 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

3

NEWSWEEK
Atlanta service for CAL Cargo

CAL CARGO AIRLINES has announced a
new round-trip service from Atlanta, Georgia
(US), to Liege Airport in Belgium.
The service includes two weekly rotations,
with the first flight set to depart from Liege
on 25 September.
CAL Group chief executive officer, Eyal
Zagagi, says: “CAL’s fleet of Boeing 747-

400s with nose door and team of specialty
experts in DG (dangerous goods), pharma,
live animals and oversize/overweight goods
combine to answer the unique needs of the
Atlanta catchment area.
“Until today, Atlanta was an offline station,
with service to/from the European Union via
our JFK (New York) operation. We found tthe
Atlanta catchment area has great potential
for us, so to improve the service we offer
to this market we are adding Atlanta as an
additional online station.”
He adds it is another step in CAL’s growth
strategy, strengthening its US network and
foothold and the carrier looks forward to increasing its presence throughout the year.
CAL Cargo services the Atlanta area with
local general sales agent ATC Aviation.

Swissport strikes deal with Oman

SWISSPORT INTERNATIONAL is to provide
cargo handling services for Oman Air in
Europe.
The newly-inked contract will see Swissport provide full cargo handling services at
Heathrow Airport, Munich Airport, Frankfurt Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle
Airport. The Heathrow services began on 3
September. There will be a phased transition
at the other three airports, with completion
due by 1 November this year.
Swissport and Oman Air hope that this
one-stop approach will lead to increased
standardisation in process flows, with a
common service level agreement and KPI
measurements.
Oman Air’s chief officer service for delivery, Andrew Walsh, says: “In support of our
world class service, Oman Air heavily relies on the punctuality and reliability of the
quality standards of its ground and cargo
handlers. After a careful review we are confident that Swissport will be the right partner

in supporting us towards our journey to become the best.”
This is the first major contract win for
Swissport since the Zurich-based cargo
handler was bought by the HNA Group, the
owner of China’s fourth-largest airline Hainan Airlines.
HNA bought Swissport International from
PAI Partners SAS for 2.73 billion Swiss
francs ($2.81 billion) in July 2015.
It will run Swissport as a stand-alone
business within its group, HNA said when
announcing the acquisition.
Swissport’s executive vice president global cargo services, Nils Knudsen, says of the
Oman Air deal: “We are proud of this intensified cooperation. It shows Swissport’s
dedication to highest performance and
quality.
“We are very much looking forward to developing our global relationship with Oman
Air and establishing a fruitful partnership in
the coming years.”

AirBridgeCargo opens ninth Asia station

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has started
twice weekly flights from Moscow to Singapore’s Changi Airport, its ninth station in Asia.
The direct flights, using a Boeing 747
Freighter, launched on 3 September. They will
operate on Thursdays and Sundays, offering
onward connections to Hong Kong and other
ABC freight destinations.
ABC says that its dedicated cargo services
to Singapore will facilitate the movement of
cross-border shipments and enhance the country’s product offerings for its customers in Asia.
The airline explains it now provides more than
500 weekly deliveries from Asia, all with a
delivery time of less than 48 hours, including

4

ACW 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

handling procedures.
“With the addition of this route, ABC is continuing its strategy to provide customers with
better access to point-to-point deliveries within
its global route network, while providing them
with on-time, reliable and high quality service
levels”, says ABC’s senior vice president of sales
and marketing, Robert van de Weg.
“Singapore, via ABC’s Moscow hub, will be
directly connected to gateways like Amsterdam,
Frankfurt and Milan without trucking. Asia is
a vitally important market for AirBridgeCargo
and we look forward to further growth in this
dynamic region.”
Changi Airport’s assistant vice president for
cargo and logistics development, James Fong,
sees the new service as a significant milestone
for Changi, opening up new cargo opportunities
between Singapore and Russia.
“Logistics players, who were previously
limited by capacity constraints between Singapore and Russia, now have a direct option
to transport large freight shipments as well as
general cargoes between the two countries. The
enhanced air connectivity will foster further
trade between both countries which is already
growing steadily”, Fong says.

EUROPEAN FREIGHT FORWARDERS

Challenging times for QCS as markets slowdown

Q

uick Cargo Service (QCS) is making
the best of difficult market conditions in Western Europe and in other
regions of the globe.
QCS president, Dieter Haltmayer,
has been in this business for decades and
explains to Air Cargo Week: “Business is a little slow at the moment,” and he adds August
is being characterised in Germany – as across
much of Western Europe – by workers taking
extended holidays and trade in general slowing.
This year has generally been difficult, Haltmayer notes. Year-on-year, QCS’s revenue has
dipped by 2.2 per cent so far in 2015, but QCS
will be far from the only European freight forwarder to have experienced a small decline, he
insists.
Import traffic from China, in particular, has
been slow, although exports to Shanghai and
Hong Kong, such as machinery and electrical

parts, have held up well.
Much outbound volumes are destined for big
German companies like BMG and Daimler-Benz
which have set up operations in China. But this
in itself could be a problem for the future, Haltmayer believes, as Germany is exporting its
knowledge and expertise to what is likely to be
a lower labour cost economy for many years to
come, perhaps establishing an economic power
with which it will be difficult to compete.
The US market has proved somewhat stag-

nant of late, after a strong start thanks to the US
West Coast port disruptions. Haltmayer is hoping for better things over the remainder of 2015.
Another challenge that Germany and its airfreight business will have to meet is the threat
to its traditional role as a cargo hub for much of
Central and Western Europe. Dubai International Airport’s growth as a gateway to Europe
threatens the dominance in this role of gateways
such as Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s busiest
airfreight hub.
Space constraints at Frankfurt and Heathrow
Airport make it difficult for them to meet the
challenge of gateways that face no such space
limitation, and seemingly little in the way of

financial constraints either.
The nature of the European airfreight business is changing in other ways, too and e-freight
is changing the way the industry works, Hatmayer remarks, while the trend towards ever
smaller and lighter shipments may threaten the
role of the dedicated all-cargo aircraft, a position also put under serious threat by the cargo
capacity of many of today’s long-haul passenger
aircraft.
QCS is among the numerous European freight
forwarders, dealing in specialised cargo, meeting the needs of niche markets that require
customised service.
For QCS, these markets include the urgent
delivery aircraft-on-ground segment and the
pharmaceutical business, for which it maintains
specific departments within the business.
With regard to the pharma shipments, the forwarder has its own cool-chain container service
flying to Nigeria, Egypt and Dubai. “QCS guarantees the end-to-end temperature-controlled
transport of pharmaceuticals and perishables to
its customers,” Haltmayer observes.

Dachser ramps up in France with new facilities
DACHSER has opened up two new facilities
in the greater Paris area - one at Wissous,
near Paris Orly International Airport, and
one at Pantin.
The logistics services provider has other sites
around the French capital, including three
warehouses and an office of its air and sea
division at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
The two new terminals are dedicated to
road-based logistics, airfreight being handled by the Dachser Air & Sea facility at
Charles de Gaulle. Dachser France Air & Sea
Logistics managing director, Vincent Touya,
says: “Branches are closely linked to the

Dachser network in Europe. In fact, Dachser
has pole position in the European groupage
market (and) by efficiently linking all our networks, we are able to offer our customers
integrates supply chain solutions worldwide,
whether goods are transported by air, sea or
road.”

2015 a success so far for Cargomind
CARGOMIND is on the up, according to the
freight forwarder’s president Uwe Glaser
(pictured) who explains last year was successful, but 2015 is even better to date.
The cargo agent is expanding and now
has 20 offices across Europe, offering air,
sea and road forwarding, as well as warehousing services.
It has an annual turnover of more than 50
million euros ($56 million) and, says Glaser,
while it has done well in the German and
Polish markets, Cargomind’s airfreight business has been on the rise across Europe.
Glaser is on the board of the Cargo 2000
(C2K) airfreight quality improvement project. C2K, a programme for creating and
implementing quality standards across the

6

ACW 14 september 2015

global airfreight industry that is supported
by the International Air Transport Association has been a big success, he suggests.

EUROPEAN FREIGHT FORWARDERS

Geodis seeing pressure on yields

T

he global airfreight market is pretty flat right now, and
air cargo traffic through Europe remains little better
than stable, according to Geodis.
The firm’s global product director for airfreight,
Henk Venema (pictured), says that European outbound volumes have not seen growth this year, while yields have also
been under pressure.
Venema points to declining confidence in China’s economy
that has hit both exports out of and imports into that most
important of airfreight markets, while there remains significant over-capacity on the China sector.
The market “is what it is”, Venema remarks. He says forwarders like Geodis can’t change that, but they can adapt their own
strategy to maximise the value of the opportunities on offer.
And Geodis is doing just that, he says. Most notably, just
last month, the company confirmed its decision to acquire
Ozburn-Hessey
Logistics
(OHL), one of the world’s
biggest third-party logistics
companies.
OHL will, in time, be
rebranded under the Geodis
banner, and integrating its people and its operations in North
America within the compass of
Europe’s fourth-largest supply
chain specialist will take time
and effort.

Another focus of late has been the full integration of the Central and Eastern European operations of Geodis Calberson
into the wider Geodis business ambit.
Geodis Calberson has more than 30 years of activity in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Middle East, Far East,
the Caucasus and Central Asia.
That process has formed part of a wider rebranding that
was launched in May and a reorganisation in business lines
that has seen entity names such as BM, CalbGE and Wilson all
integrated into the one Geodis entity.
Finally, Venema points to the heavy investments that Geodis
has been making in Germany. It has chosen Frankfurt to act
as a hub gateway, and has invested in new freight managers,
new sales teams and infrastructure in Germany’s air
cargo capital.

Second UK airfreight office for Velta International
VELTA INTERNATIONAL has opened a second UK airfreight office in Manchester, having initially opened their
Heathrow Airport office at the beginning of 2014.
The freight forwarder says it has undergone an extensive expansion, following an “ever increasing demand for
their provision of supply chain solutions”.
The company says the “new office enables the team
to handle airfreight services more efficiently; providing
direct control and consistency on all shipments from the
North of the country, as well as cutting down transit times
for client’s goods that previously would have entered the
country via Heathrow”.
Additionally, it allows Velta to offer the export of goods
from the North of England, and comes at a time when the
Government has pledged funding for the development of
the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ to boost the economic growth
of major cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds,

as well as the surrounding areas.
The opening of the new office comes months after Velta
established a Glasgow badge, enabling faster clearance
on goods arriving into the UK via Scotland, and enhances
the business model already offered across the organisation on the transportation, storage and fulfilment of
goods.

Logwin expanding its business in Poland
LOGISTICS service provider Logwin is building up the Polish arm of its business.
In its latest move, the company has expanded its sales
office in Krakow, although Logwin operational staff have
only been based there since July.
The Krakow branch handles both air and sea freight
shipments and, the company says it is seeing more Polish
exports, spurred by an economy that is enjoying steady
growth, which has encouraged it to build on its footprint
in the southern Polish city.
Logwin’s Krakow branch manager, Bartosz Hruszka, explains: “In recent years we have built up close
relationships with companies in the Krakow area and accompanied their growth. We speak the local languages,
are familiar with the conditions on the ground and enjoy
good relationships with airlines, shipping companies and
customs authorities. This allows us to help our customers
to open up new markets.”
Logwin Air and Ocean, managing director for Europe
and the Middle East in Warsaw, Piotr Sprzczka, expects
to see Poland’s airfreight volumes grow yet further in the
near future. At present more than 100 tonnes of air cargo
are moved by air each month by Logwin in the Polish market. “We are offering airfreight to and from Frankfurt with
daily truck shuttles,” Sprzczka notes.
Warsaw International Airport’s traffic consists mainly
of narrowbody aircraft (exceptions being widebody services of the national flag-carrier LOT Polish Airlines and

Emirates Airline). As such, it is not suitable for bigger
cargo shipments. “We use Warsaw Airport for urgent and
smaller shipments, whereas most of the cargo we handle
is trucked to/from Frankfurt,” Sprzczka explains.
Primary destinations for shipments include locations in
the Far East of Asia, although destinations in the Middle
East are “gaining importance, and we observe significant
volume increase on these trade lanes,” he adds.
Logwin is primarily moving goods such as fashion, cosmetics, electronics, fabric and automotive goods out of
Poland for its airfreight customers.
Airfreight volumes are on the increase, and import volumes have remained stable, Sprzczka says. “We expect
to handle more airfreight cargo as we develop our presence in the country,” he adds.
The company handled more than 146,000 tonnes of air
cargo last year.

ACW 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

7

AIR CARGO HANDLING CONFERENCE REVIEW

Move forward and take action is the message from Asia

F

or a conference whose underlying but
key theme was about trying to move
forward, be resolute and take action,
moreover outline specific actions to
take to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Cargo Handling
Council (ICHC), the 7th Air Cargo Handling
Conference (ACHC), held in Bangkok from 1- 3
September talked a lot.
The conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in the
heart of Thailand’s capital, saw a focus cargo
handling, but also on other key industry issues.
Some of these were about the sort of things
that always get tongues, moving such as electronic air waybills (eAWB) and the lack of
skilled personnel. Some of it such as unit load
devices (ULDs) was new.
What was also instructive during the three
days, was that the tone not just about specific
issues but about the overall industry.

“We need to change and come up with solutions to the problems we face we’ve talked for
years and years,” was one fairly typical delegate
comment throughout. It was surprising especially when it came from the podium and was
met with broad agreement from the floor.
That said there was a certain realism about
things and about what was discussed and the
chances of moving it on, let alone an action plan
be agreed on and even implemented.
“Any conference is very unlikely to reach
concrete and solutions as they are not a governing body. Any suggestions that may arise from
last week will take a lot of work and effort to
get adopted in this Industry,” Bangkok Flight
Services general manager for cargo, David
Ambridge, tells Air Cargo Week (ACW).
One reason why ULDs were so commented on,
according to IATA’s global head for cargo, Glyn
Hughes (above, middle), is the annual dam-

age they log up and the cost it represents for
the industry is said to be in the region of $300
million. This was slight compared the costs of
not going eAWB and e-freight but is a significant hole in the balance sheets of many cargo
carriers.
“The vast majority of that damage is caused by
not handling in a proper way” Hughes explains
to ACW. ULDs should never be put on a forklift
truck or dragged along. They should be on roller
dollies, he said, describing the issue as both
“critical” and “very big” for the industry.
What was even more surprising is this was
a conference where names were not so much
named as places, surprising ones, cited for being
ULD unfriendly. The biggest culprit it appears is
not so much the emerging, or even frontier, markets where the lack of a sophisticated aviation
market might lead to poor usage.
North America was openly acknowledged
to be “the worst culprit” with a “shovel it in”
approach leading to the use of wrong and incompatible equipment, according to Ambridge.

Fear of losing business

“For me the whole process of ULD’s going off
airport needs to be much tighter controlled as
the people handling those ULD’s off the airport
are generally not trained, not qualified, and not
certified to handle them,” Ambridge later tells
ACW away from the conference sessions.
His argument as to why this is is a surprising
one is because of fear. What he meant was fear
that asserting rights of ownership might get a
partner’s back up.
“Fear of losing business” came a voice from the
hall. The ACHC this year was a very interactive
affair, a kind of forum, where delegates spoke
up and got involved. This though was a subtext,
maybe the key one of this conference with the
comment being made several times is that the
industry has a fear of change. Another view is
not so much that its fear as there seemed to be
an acknowledgement of the need to change but
there is no clear consensus on what to change
or how.
“All of the supply chain needs to refamiliarise
themselves with the fact the ULD is an aircraft
component” says IATA’s Hughes. “Those who are

8

ACW 14 september 2015

touching it need to be adequately trained.”
That said the training on offer, or at least being
taken up, is maybe not commensurate with the
scale of the problem.
Last year, IATA taught two courses ULD
Managament and ULD Handling which were
attended by 120 people for the two, Hughes
says.

We have to look at ourselves

This though is just part of another problem.
When it was asked from the podium how many
people felt their organisations had enough talent and competence only a half dozen or so
hands went up. This out of over a 100 or so
attendees. There was a moments silence as that
sank in.
“We have got to look at ourselves,” Robert
Fordree, Etihad Cargo’s head of cargo handling
explains.
The end of the first days conference sessions
on 2 September saw delegates network in the
evening at the glittering Gala Dinner at the Royal
Navy Convention Hall, where they dined while
taking in views across Bangkok’s Grand Palace
and the Chao Phraya River.
An exhibition was also well attended throughout, where exhibitors included World Flight
Services, Bangkok Flight Services, Fraport
Cargo Services, LUG, Jettainer, ULD Care,
Vienna International Airport, Brussels Airport, Consolidated Aviation Services, ALHA
Group, CHAMP Cargosystems, SACO Airport
Equipment, IATA, EDIfly Innovative Software,
and Hermes Logistics Technologies.

AIR CARGO HANDLING CONFERENCE REVIEW

eAWB and e-commerce under the spotlight

T

he 7th Air Cargo Handling Conference (ACHC), held in
Bangkok from 1- 3 September at the Shangri-La Hotel
in the heart of Thailand’s capital, also saw dicussions
on issues where there is progress in the industry, as
opposed to work waiting to be done (although its not
an either or) such as electronic air waybills (eAWB) and to a
much lesser extent e-commerce.
On the plus side there is progress. Etihad Cargo’s head of
cargo, Robert Fordree, tells delegates the carrier is to start rolling
out their eAWB within the next two weeks. He says it will be staggered and will start out as a cost. It will be a saving later he said,
but not right away.
This is one explanation for the slowness with which eAWB
is being applied, even though the savings would be more than
incidental. Another was the industry is very good at adapting to
change regulators insist on, but is slow and hesistant to impose
change, even when it knows it will benefit from it, upon itself.
There are other reasons as well, as Worldwide Information
Network managing director, John Debenedette, notes. There are
many local practices in local markets that create obstacles in the
implementing of eAWB he explains, describing the situation as “a
patchwork”.
Just how much complicated was elaborated on by CHAMP Cargosystems head of commercial operations in Asia Pacific, Oliver
Neerfeld.
Firstly he made the point that eAWB is very European and Middle Eastern centric and that looking at Singapore and Hong Kong
is not enough for Asia. Complicating this, the regions’ other two
technology savvy nations are not as advanced as their image suggest. “Many think that South Korea and Japan are far ahead but
they are not,” Neerfeld says.
The other example he gave was the Philippines where English
is already broadly spoken but the depth of knowledge about how
to use technology is very limited. CHAMP recently hosted a seminar well attended with 55 delegates from the freight forwarder
community and 20 delegates from the country’s two airlines,
Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines. “Most of these participants, especially from the freighter forwarders they didn’t have
a clue,” he adds.

Issue is though not the language, but the implications of
what IATA’s Hughes describes
as “mega numbers of smaller
shippers” who do not have the
knowledge or the foresight to
check the regulations.
One example Hughes gave
was lithium batteries sold by
one bright spark who admitted via Facebook the product
was being mislabeled and its
size and weight misreported.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so stupid or dangerous. The
proliferation of e-commerce sites is a very significant concern
for IATA Hughes says, adding it was working to educate those
involved.
Offsetting this is an awareness the opportunity the double-digit
growth sector presents providing issues referred to as the three
Ts - tracking, tracing and transparency - are tackled.

“There is a tremendous opportunity in doing a product portfolio for this market,” Strategic Aviation Solutions International
senior executive director, Stan Wraight, points out.
It is true of the market overall and while the conference made
no great statement, ringing declarations or outline specific
measures, it started moving towards that by discussing them
thoroughly and openly.

White spot

The Philippines, Neerfeld went on to point out is an Interational Air Transport Association (IATA) white spot and has
passed but has still to ratify MC99.
That might be the least of the problem though according to
Debenedette, who says the industry was having the wrong conversation by mobilising to express what is essentially a written
document.
His view, one clearly resonating with many both at the conference and beyond is air cargo must become much more like other
sectors of the economy.
“We actually need to have each others business systems talk to
each other over free ubiquitous internet communications that’s
how billions of dollars a day of transactions securely take place in
retail and other commercial industries. We are not really solving
the problem,” he says. “That’s a challenge” Debenedette adds in
what was probably the understatement of the conference. “That’s
insane” he said in its most concise summary.
Behind this is the failure of the airlines to tap into e-commerce
which actually warranted a session in its own right.
Part of the problem here it was expressed, is that there are too
many stakeholders as the industry fragments.
In a sector where mobilising for change is already difficult it
has become harder because of the rise of the one-person seller.
The phrase ‘e-fulfillment operator’ was actually used, and eyebrows were correspondingly raised at one point.

ACW 14 septembeR 2015

9

SWEDEN

Cargo infrastructure drive at Sweden’s airports

A

irport operator Swedavia, and pension management company, Alecta,
have signed an agreement to jointly
manage 20 properties across Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Malmo
Airport and Gothenburg Landvetter Airport
(pictured) in a deal worth 3.9 billion kronor
($461 million).
The agreement will cover 260,000 square
metres of space for logistics, hangers and offices.
Arlanda’s Cargo Center and Gothenburg’s Cargo
North and South centre. Swedavia will be managing the development through its subsidiary,
Swedavia Real Estate.
When the deal was announced in June, Swedavia chief executive officer (CEO), Torborg
Chetkovich (pictured), said: “The collaboration
gives us a stable foundation, which Swedavia can
continue to work and invest to develop our inter-

national hubs and thus enhance Swedish access.”
In May, groundbreaking work started on a
logistics facility at Gothenburg to be leased to
DHL Express for 10 years. It is due to be completed in early 2016. The 7,500 square metre
facility will replace DHL’s existing 1,700 square
metres of space and will be built adjacent to the
Northern section of the airport.
At Airport City Gothenburg, an area of about

two million square metres is being planned for
development, of which 100,000 square metres is
reserved for logistics.
When representatives from Swedavia, DHL
Express and the facility’s building contractor,
Veidekke, broke ground in May, Swedavia Real
Estate property manager, Stefan Stenberg said:
“DHL is a strong player, and its investment is a
very good way to enhance Airport City Gothenburg as a destination for logistics and drive
development in the entire region.”

Customers benefit

Logistics Park at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport.
The work started with 170,000 square metres
of land being prepared for constructing 100,000
square metres of logistics properties, warehouses and offices.
Swedavia Real Estate chief executive, Karl
Wistrand, said at the time: “This agreement is
an important step in the continued development
of Gothenburg Landvetter Airport as a hub for
travel and logistics in the region.”
Bockasjo chief executive, Joakim Hedin, said:
“Based on goods flows and customer demand,
we believe there is significant potential for the
development of highly efficient logistics and distribution facilities here.”
Swedavia made a profit of one billion kronor
($118 million) in the first half of 2015, compared
to 699 million kronor for the same period of
2014. Revenue in the first half of 2015 was 2.7
billion kronor, up from 2.6 billion kronor for the
same period of 2014.

At the time, DHL Express Sweden CEO, Ted
Soderholm commented: “Our customers will
benefit as a result through increased service
quality, with faster deliveries and later pick-ups.”
In February, Swedavia Real Estate signed the
development agreement with logistics and property developer, Bockasjo, to develop Landvetter

Airports seeing mixed results this year

SWEDEN’S principle cargo airports have
seen varied growth so far in 2015 with
Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Malmo
Airport seeing rises while Gothenburg
Landvetter Airport is down on 2014.
Between January and June 2015, cargo
volumes at Arlanda increased by 4.2 per
cent to 71,726 tonnes. Operator Swedavia’s director of key accounts and manager
for passenger and cargo, Ylva Arvidsson,
says it is because of increased capacity
from Qatar Airways and Norwegian Cargo.
Arvidsson notes: “Once we have capacity
the market responds positively.”
Malmo has seen its cargo volumes increase by 16.5 per cent from January to
July, helped by AirBridgeCargo Airlines
operating two flights a week to Moscow,
up from one. Gothenburg’s January to July
figures are 25.4 per cent below 2014 at
31,552 tonnes, as it continues to feel the
effects of Emirates SkyCargo cancelling its
twice-weekly freighter service in July 2014.
Arvidsson says: “From March this year
AirBridgeCargo increased from one to two
freighters a week Malmo to Moscow and
Korean Air Cargo increased from two to
three freighters per week from Arlanda to

10

ACW 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

Incheon.”
She also tells Air Cargo Week TNT returned to Arlanda at the end of August,
having been based at Vasteras Airport.
In Sweden, a lot of airfreight comes in the
bellyhold of passenger aircraft. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is increasing services
from Stockholm to the US. Arvidsson says:
“Belly cargo capacity will increase thanks to
SAS opening Arlanda to Hong Kong [International Airport] in September and flying
Chicago [O’Hare International Airport] and
Newark [Liberty International Airport] daily
this winter traffic programme.”
SAS will start daily services from Arlanda to Los Angeles International Airport
in March 2016. Norwegian will start from
Stockholm to McCarren International Airport and to Puerto Rico’s Luis Munoz Marin
International Airport in October this year.